Cindy Crawford pays visit to Art Miami for debut of work in her likeness

Art Miami’s opening Tuesday night was the usual Art Basel bouquet of chaos and the sublime – traffic woes quickly forgotten as soon as attendees mingled in the cavernous midtown tents sipping on gratis beer or champagne from too-crowded bars and commenced absorbing the art and the people parade.

But tucked away in the outdoor courtyard between the mega-tents was the CC Lounge, dedicated to supermodel Cindy Crawford and splashed with large-scale versions of photographer Marco Glaviano’s best-known black and white images of the model, now printed on canvas and sprinkled with diamond dust.

Crawford was there, graciously greeting guests and game to discuss everything from social media to which pieces of art she had her eye on at the fair.

On taking selfies: "I never take selfies. I’m too picky. When you’ve been photographed by Marco Glaviano and Richard Avedon it’s kind of hard to find any selfie that you’re happy with. My generation will only post the good pictures. What I think is amazing [about social media] is young people don’t care now. My daughter will post ugly pictures of herself. She knows they’re ugly. She thinks it’s funny. These photos Marco Glaviano took of me are the closest to selfies. But they have diamond dust on them – how bad can that be?"

Your husband owns bars around the world...what's your favorite cocktail that he makes?"We just drink Casa Amigo on the rocks and I squeeze a little lime on it."

If you could choose a date for George Clooney who would it be:"What I’ve learned is I have no idea what works for him. I would never be able to set him up with someone."

Favorite Miami spots: "Our favorite thing to do is just to get up and go walking on the beach."

Do you plan to buy art this week? "I really like that Banksy out there but it’s a little pricey."

Also in attendance at the CC Lounge was Glaviano, the artist of the diamond-dust clad images of Crawford. A former fashion photographer, he has delved into art the past six years.

"These are some of the most iconic pictures I have done in my life," he said about the images of Crawford in display. "To work with Cindy was some of the most important work I have ever done. We sold over 1 million copies of the calendar with these photos. For me Cindy was one of the three most iconic women I have ever photographed."

So why diamond dust? "I think with the diamond dust we want to make it glittery and it is a symbol of a time that no longer exists, when people looked good and were happy. It was a part of the 80s. I think unfortunately the world is not as magical as it used to be. The women looked more like Cindy and not like anorexix fashion models."

And what was Crawford's reaction to your work? Did you have to ask for permission? "Cindy and I were friends for a long time and traveled around the world. I worked with my gallery and made our choices and submitted them to Cindy as well. We wanted iconic images and I didn't want her to be surprised when she came to my show. She loved everything."

The images will be on display through Sunday, Dec. 8 at Art Miami in Midtown (3101 NE 1st Ave., Miami).